Fixing a project tool login problem | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Ik kan niet inloggen op de projecttool.

   I cannot log in to the project tool.

   Ik kan

   I can

   niet

   not

   inloggen

   log in

   op

   to / on

   projecttool

   project tool

   More detail

   Ik kan means “I can” here. kan is the first-person singular present form of kunnen (“can, be able to”); the subject Ik (“I”) determines this form. With a following infinitive, kunnen expresses ability or possibility: Ik kan zwemmen. — “I can swim.” niet makes the statement negative. Here it negates the ability or possibility expressed by kan inloggen, so the meaning is “cannot log in.” In this sentence, niet appears before the infinitive inloggen within the verb group. inloggen is the infinitive “to log in.” It is a separable verb: in a finite main-clause form, the parts can separate, as in Ik log in. — “I log in.” After a modal verb such as kan, the infinitive remains together at the end of its verb group: Ik kan inloggen. — “I can log in.” op is the preposition used with inloggen for the system, service, or tool being accessed: inloggen op een website — “log in to a website.” The preposition does not itself mean that the speaker is physically on the tool. projecttool is a compound noun meaning “project tool,” a tool used for project work. Dutch compounds are written as one word, so project and tool are not separate words in this sentence. Together, Ik kan niet inloggen op de projecttool says: “I cannot log in to the project tool.” Here, op connects inloggen with de projecttool, the accessed tool. The speaker is the person unable to perform the action. The following question about an error message is compatible with this reading, but it does not change the sentence’s meaning.

2. Welke foutmelding zie je?

   What error message do you see?

   Welke

   what / which

   foutmelding

   error message

   zie

   see

   je

   you

   More detail

   Welke asks which one or what kind of item when selecting from possible items. Here it modifies the noun foutmelding. Dutch uses welk with a singular het-word and welke with a de-word or a plural noun; foutmelding is a singular de-word. Example: Welke pagina open je? — “Which page are you opening?” foutmelding means “error message.” It is a noun compound: fout means “error” and melding means a message or notification. The compound refers to the message shown because something has gone wrong, rather than to the error itself. Example: Ik lees de foutmelding. — “I am reading the error message.” zie is the present-tense form of zien (“to see”) for a singular jij/je subject. In a yes-or-no or information question, Dutch commonly places the finite verb before the subject: je ziet becomes zie je. Example: Zie je het scherm? — “Do you see the screen?” je is the informal singular subject pronoun “you.” It does not mark the person’s gender. The stressed form jij can be used for emphasis, while unstressed je is the ordinary form here. Together, Welke foutmelding asks the listener to identify the error message, and zie je forms the question “do you see?” The complete utterance is therefore: “What error message do you see?”

3. Er staat dat mijn sessie is verlopen.

   It says my session has expired.

   Er staat

   it says

   mijn

   my

   sessie

   session

   is verlopen

   has expired

   More detail

   Er staat is a common Dutch impersonal construction meaning “it says” or “it states.” Here er does not identify a particular person or thing; it helps form the statement. staat is the present singular form of staan (“to stand”), but in this construction the whole expression has the meaning “it says.” For example: Er staat een foutmelding. — “There is an error message.” mijn means “my” and shows possession. Dutch possessive mijn normally stays the same with singular and plural nouns: mijn sessie (“my session”), mijn sessies (“my sessions”). sessie means “session.” It is a noun referring here to the user’s session. The possessive comes before the noun, giving the reusable pattern mijn + noun (“my + noun”). is verlopen expresses “has expired.” is is the present singular form of zijn (“to be”), used here as the auxiliary in a completed-time construction. verlopen is the past participle of verlopen; in this context it means “expired” or “run out,” not simply “walked past.” The pattern is + past participle can describe a completed state: De aanbieding is verlopen. — “The offer has expired.” Together, Er staat introduces the content of a written message, and dat links that content to the clause mijn sessie is verlopen. Thus the complete utterance means: “It says my session has expired.”

4. Probeer de browser te sluiten en hem daarna opnieuw te openen.

   Try closing the browser, then open it again.

   Probeer

   try

   browser

   browser

   te sluiten

   to close

   hem

   it

   daarna

   afterward; then

   opnieuw

   again

   te openen

   to open

   More detail

   Probeer is the imperative form of proberen (“to try”). In this sentence it gives an instruction; the form itself does not establish whether the addressee is informal, formal, singular, or plural. A reusable pattern is proberen te + infinitive, as in Ik probeer te slapen — “I try to sleep.” browser is the noun “browser.” Here it is the object of sluiten, meaning that the browser is the thing to be closed. te sluiten means “to close.” sluiten is the infinitive, and te introduces this infinitive phrase after proberen: proberen te sluiten — “to try to close.” Example: Zij probeert de deur te sluiten. — “She tries to close the door.” hem is a singular object pronoun that can mean “him” or “it.” The fixed translation identifies its referent here as the browser. It is the object of openen, not the subject. The choice of pronoun depends on the referent and the target language’s pronoun system; the fact that browser is a de-word alone does not by itself state every possible pronoun choice. daarna means “afterward” or “then,” marking that the next action follows the closing action. opnieuw means “again,” showing that the opening happens another time or is repeated. These two words together mark the sequence and repetition. te openen means “to open.” openen is the infinitive, and te introduces this second infinitive phrase. In hem ... te openen, hem is the thing being opened: “to open it.” The meaningful parts combine as Probeer [to close the browser] en [then to open it again]. The pronoun hem links the second action to the browser already mentioned, while daarna puts that action after closing and opnieuw adds the idea of doing it again. The complete meaning is: “Try closing the browser, then open it again.”

5. Als het nog steeds niet lukt, moet ik dan contact opnemen met de helpdesk?

   If it still fails, should I contact support?

   Als

   if

   nog steeds

   still

   niet

   not

   lukt

   works; succeeds

   moet ik

   must I

   dan

   then; in that case

   contact opnemen

   to contact; to get in touch

   helpdesk

   support desk

   More detail

   Als introduces a condition: “if.” It is a reusable way to set up a situation before stating what follows. Example: Als het regent, blijf ik thuis. — “If it rains, I stay home.” nog steeds means “still,” showing that the situation continues up to the relevant time. It is different from weer (“again”): nog steeds describes continuation, while weer describes recurrence. niet negates the nearby verb phrase. Here it makes the idea “succeeds/works” negative: “does not work.” Its exact scope comes from the surrounding clause, so it is not being glossed as a standalone negative answer. lukt is the present-tense third-person singular form of lukken, “to succeed” or “to work out.” In the impersonal pattern het lukt (“it works out”), Dutch commonly says whether an attempt or task succeeds. The source combines it with niet: het ... niet lukt means that it does not work out. Example: Het lukt vandaag. — “It works out today.” moet ik contains moet, the first-person singular present form of the modal verb moeten (“must” or “have to”), plus ik, “I.” In this yes/no question, the finite verb comes before the subject: Moet ik ...? — “Should/Must I ...?” The English “should” here conveys the question about what action is appropriate; the Dutch form itself is from moeten. dan means “then” or “in that case.” In a conditional question, it links the condition to the proposed action: “if that happens, then ...?” It does not by itself add a separate action or a numerical meaning. contact opnemen is a fixed verb construction meaning “to contact” or “to get in touch.” Its literal parts should not be treated as an ordinary English-style verb-object order: Dutch uses the construction contact opnemen met iemand for contacting someone. opnemen is separable in many uses, but in this infinitive construction it appears together with contact before the complement. Example: Ik neem contact op met de helpdesk. — “I contact the support desk.” helpdesk is a noun for a support desk or support service. The phrase de helpdesk uses the definite article de, presenting the support service as an identifiable service in this situation. Example: De helpdesk helpt me. — “The support desk helps me.” Together, Als het nog steeds niet lukt sets the condition “If it still does not work.” moet ik dan asks whether, in that case, the speaker is required or expected to act. contact opnemen met de helpdesk supplies the action and its recipient: contacting the support desk. The whole utterance therefore means: “If it still fails, should I contact support?” It is a polite request for guidance about the next step, framed as a conditional question.

6. Stuur hun de foutmelding en wat je hebt geprobeerd.

   Send them the error message and what you tried.

   Stuur

   send

   hun

   them

   foutmelding

   error message

   wat je hebt geprobeerd

   what you tried

   More detail

   Stuur is the imperative of sturen, “to send.” It gives a direct instruction, with the subject normally omitted. Example: Stuur de link. — “Send the link.” hun means “them” here as the recipients of the sending. In this pattern, Dutch uses hun for an indirect object without aan: Ik stuur hun een bericht. — “I send them a message.” Hen is used in other object-position patterns, so it is not interchangeable with hun in this construction. foutmelding means “error message.” It is a compound noun made from fout (“error”) and melding (“message” or “notification”). Dutch common nouns are normally written with lowercase letters, including sentence-internal foutmelding; capitalization does not mark this noun as a special type. With the article, de foutmelding is the error message being sent. wat je hebt geprobeerd means “what you tried.” wat refers to an unspecified thing or activity, while je is the informal singular “you.” hebt geprobeerd is a perfect construction: hebt is the present-tense form of hebben used with je, and geprobeerd is the past participle of proberen (“to try”). Example: Ik vertel wat ik heb geleerd. — “I tell what I have learned.” The structure is Stuur hun (“Send them”) followed by two coordinated objects: de foutmelding (“the error message”) and wat je hebt geprobeerd (“what you tried”). Together, these chunks mean: “Send them the error message and what you tried.”

7. Ik start eerst de browser opnieuw op.

   I will restart the browser first.

   Ik

   I

   start … op

   start up

   eerst

   first

   browser

   browser

   opnieuw

   again

   More detail

   Ik means “I” and identifies the speaker as the subject. In Dutch, this subject pronoun is used with a first-person singular verb form. Example: Ik werk. — “I work.” start is the present-tense form of starten (“to start”) used with ik. Here it combines with the separated particle op to form opstarten, “to start up” or “to restart” a device or program. In this sentence, the particle appears at the end of the clause: Ik start de browser op. — “I start up the browser.” Do not treat op here as a separate preposition meaning “on”; it belongs to this separable verb. eerst means “first” and places this action before another relevant action in the situation. It does not itself identify what the later action is. Example: Ik lees eerst de handleiding. — “I read the manual first.” browser is the noun “browser.” Dutch commonly uses the article de with this noun: de browser. In the fixed sentence, it is the object being started up; the noun itself does not express who performs the action. opnieuw means “again” or “anew.” It marks a repeated start, so the browser is being started up again rather than for the first time in the relevant situation. Example: Ik probeer het opnieuw. — “I try it again.” Together, Ik start ... op gives the separable-verb pattern “I start ... up,” de browser identifies what is started, opnieuw adds the idea of doing this again, and eerst places the action first. The complete meaning is: “I will restart the browser first.”

8. Laat het me weten als je nog hulp nodig hebt.

   Tell me if you still need help.

   Laat het me weten

   let me know

   als

   if

   je

   you

   nog

   still

   hulp

   help

   nodig

   needed

   More detail

   Laat het me weten is a fixed, reusable Dutch pattern meaning “let me know.” Laat is the imperative of laten (“to let”); in this expression, laten weten means “make known” or simply “let someone know.” het is a neutral pronoun for the information to be communicated, and me is the first-person singular object pronoun, referring to the speaker. Example: Laat het me weten als je klaar bent. — “Let me know when you are ready.” als introduces the condition here: “if.” It can also mean “when” in contexts where an event is expected, but the fixed translation supports the conditional reading in this sentence. Example: Als je tijd hebt, kom langs. — “If you have time, come by.” je is the informal second-person subject pronoun, “you.” Its exact number is not established by the supplied sentence; here it is the subject of the conditional clause. In je ... hebt, the verb hebben is in the form used with je. nog means “still” here. It presents the need as continuing or remaining true at the relevant time. Example: Heb je nog vragen? — “Do you still have questions?” hulp is the noun “help.” Dutch commonly uses it with nodig hebben to express needing help. Example: Ik heb hulp nodig. — “I need help.” nodig means “needed” or “necessary” in the construction hulp nodig hebben. The verb hebben, not nodig, carries the person and tense marking: ik heb, je hebt, hij heeft. In the fixed sentence, nodig hebt therefore means “need” in the sense of “have [something] needed.” Together, als je nog hulp nodig hebt means “if you still need help.” This is a subordinate clause, so the finite verb hebt appears at the end. The main imperative Laat het me weten asks the listener to inform the speaker. The complete utterance therefore means: “Tell me if you still need help.”